Crab Count: The Results are In

After a summer of hard work pulling up traps, turning over rocks, and measuring fiesty crabs, it's now time for the fun part: putting all of our data together and looking at the results!

First, some basic numbers:

• In total, we caught and measured 493 individual crabs this summer!
• 270 were Asian shore crabs
• 130 were green crabs
• 89 were red rock crabs
• 4 were spider crabs
• 300 were male and 193 were female
• They ranged in size from a tiny 4mm to a whopping 12.04 cm

From our total numbers, it certainly appears as if invasive Asian shore crabs and green crabs are the dominate species in Boston Harbor, but let's take a closer look at our individual sites.

Asian shore crabs, the most dominant species in our total, are actually only the most common species at two of our six sites: Camp Harbor View on Long Island and the Harry McDonough Sailing Center in South Boston. These sites are both rocky and gravely beaches where we searched for crabs in the intertidal zone (the area between the high and low tide marks which is sumberged for only part of the day). Asian shore crabs do very well in the intertidal zone because they are better than other crab species at tolerating the dryer conditions of this habitat.
Black's Creek in Quincy is also a gravely beach where we searched for crabs in the intertidal zone, but we found almost exclusively green crabs at this site. Why no Asian shore crabs?
Black's Creek is a Salt Marsh Estuary where fresh water mixes with ocean water and lowers the salinity. Green crabs are very tolerant of a wide range of different salinities, but Asian shore crabs can't survive as well in the low salinity of Black's Creek.
Green crabs are dominant at Piers Park Sailing Center in East Boston, Courageous Sailing Center in Charlestown, and in Fort Point Channel at the Boston Children's Museum as well. These crabs were introduced to New England in the early 1800's; their quick reproduction and adaptability to a wide range of conditions have allowed them to easily outcompete native crabs, so it is no surprise that we found so many of them.
At Piers Park, Courageous, and the Children's Museum, we caught crabs from the subtidal zone (the area that is always submerged, even at low tide) using traps. At these sites, we saw two additional spcies of crabs that are not as tolerant of the dryer intertidal zone. Red rock crabs were common at Piers Park and Courageous, and spider crabs were found at Piers Park and the Children's Museum. Although we never saw the sea floor at these locations, the species of crabs that we found at each of them can actually tell us a little bit about what the bottom is like! Red Rock crabs (as you can probably guess from the name) like habitats with lots of rocks, while spider crabs (a type of mud crab), prefer muddy bottoms. Based on the data we collected, Courageous probably has a more rocky bottom, Fort Point Channel has a more muddy bottom and Piers Park likely has a mixture of both.
This is only a small example of the kinds of things we can learn from the crab count information we've collected this summer. We'll be sending all of our data along to Dr. Judy Pederson at MIT who will use it to study the spread of invasive species. Hopefully, she'll keep us posted on what she finds!
-Paula

A Splashing Good Time!

Last Friday, myself and the rest of the Save the Harbor Staff took a break from our regular youth programing to host a huge kids' party at Curley Center in South Boston. We were anticipating a big crowd, but the actual attendence at the event was even greater than we expected; we had about 450 kids on the beach!

In addition to feeding all those kids, we took them fishing and had them fly kites, build sand castles, draw murals, pet lobsters and crabs, and play games on the beach. The highlight of event, though, was right before lunch when we all splashed into the water! Although getting 450 kids to run down the beach into the water safely would be an impressive feat any day, this event was especially impressive becuase in spite of the heavy rains earlier in the week, the beaches in South Boston were still safe and open for swimming!

Although we still have a week left of youth programs, this summertime splash was a great way to start wrapping up the summer.

-Paula

The Catches of the Day at Camp Harbor View

While I myself might not be in the running for Master Angler this summer, some of my campers at Harbor View could definitely provide Conor and Tommy with some serious competition.

Here's what we caught today!

Franklin caught his own flounder; it was a bit too small to eat though.

Shannon with her cunner

Alexis and her huge skate!

Raheem with the second cunner of the day

-Paula

Camp Harbor View

Hey everyone its Mark just wanted to share my afternoon with you guys about my day at harbor view. My first group was the fishing club the kids that are always ready to fish.I want to say about 30minutes into the group session one of our campers caught a fish. I'm not sure but i think it was a flounder and it was big enough to keep. We spent the rest of the session watching Paula get the fish ready for the camper to take it home. Right before fishing club came we baited the lobster traps with tuna fish so by timed we pulled them up they were filled with a bunch Red Rock crabs and Green crabs so me and my co-worker Liz got a chance to educate some campers on the crabs.

Mark Rose

Blacks Creek

Today i was at blacks creek in the morning. We didn't have a lot of kids but we had enough to take a walk through a couple of trails around the campsite. My senior marine educator Paula had educated us on some plant along the trail. There was the sumac, the chicory plant and she also gave us a short lesson on poison ivy, what it looks light and the different type it can come in. We let the kids draw out their own maps of the trail. After we went down to the beach and let the kids fish for the end of the session no luck on any fish but they looked excited trying to catch one

Mark Rose

Catching Dinner

I've always told the kids at Camp Harbor View that if they caught a fish the right size, we'd cut it up so they could take it home and eat it for dinner. Before today I don't think many of them believed me, but this afternoon I finally made good on that promise!

About 15 minutes into fishing club today, I heard a shout from Joe (the counselor in charge of fishing club) that he had a fish. I hurried over in time to see him reeling in a large flounder! After measuring it and confirming that it was legal size, I asked if anyone wanted to take it home for dinner. Joe declined, but Franklin, one of the members of fishing club was eager to bring home the catch.

Although I had never prepared a fish before, I got out our trusty knife and, with Liz's help, removed the flounder's head so that we could gut it. Franklin then gave us a hand by helping to pull out the guts! While we worked, Franklin told us about how he planned to prepare the fish El Salvadorian style. Although he couldn't give me the exact recipe (it's a secret!), it's sounds delicious from what he did tell me.

After a thorough rinse, we put the flounder on ice and carried it down to the camp kitchen. Along the way, we had the opportunity to show off our catch to rest of the kids at camp! The kitchen manager was happy hear about Franklin's plans for cooking the fish and promised to keep it nice and cold for him until the end of the day.

By now, Franklin and his family are probably enjoying a scrumptious dinner of El Salvadorian style flounder. Hopefully, a report on the meal from Franklin himself will be coming soon!

-Paula

Exploring Shell Beach

Today we embarked on a new adventure at Camp Harbor View! Over the next few weeks we'll be exploring Long Island from top to bottom, uncovering its hidden treasures, and learning more about the history of the island and the harbor.

Bruce joined us for the occasion!

We started out today by taking a trip to the rocky beach on the south side of Long Island. While we've spent plenty of time tide-pooling and searching for crabs on the north side of the island between the swimming beach and the fishing pier, this was the first time we've really gotten to explore "Shell Beach", as we later named it.

The name suited the beach perfectly; it was littered with piles of slipper shells, mussel shells, and periwinkle shells. After checking out the shells, we set off in search of sea glass and other interesting artifacts!

Thi may have a reputation as the champion glass hunter, but Hughes gave her a run for her money by finding a rare piece of grey sea glass!

Mark had the coolest find of the day, a rock split perfectly down the middle with layers of different colored rock and crystals on the inside, almost like a geode!

Chantelle with all the treasures we found today

We left all of our artifacts, cool rocks, and shells on a big rock where we will be collecting everything we find on Shell Beach over the rest of the summer (but if we spend a few more days at the beach we may have to find a bigger rock!).

Future destinations for the Boston Harbor Explorers at Camp Harbor View over the next few weeks include the lighthouse and the hiking trails, where we will learn a little history and hunt for invasive plants. We'll also be conducting a weekly crab count, and further explorations along the shore.

We will also share our ongoing research on the Scarlet Lady of Long Island with you all as we uncover the facts. Here is a picture of Cara after a rumored recent encounter with her on the island.

See you soon

-Paula

Red Rock Park Children's Concert

This past Saturday Liz, Deirdre and I were at Red Rock Park in Lynn for their summer kid's concert. We arrived early to set up our lobster touch tank for the pre-concert festivities and were joined by the Northeastern University Travelling Aquarium, the Lynn Fire Department, face painters, balloon artists and others providing fun free activities for the young concert-goers.

Winthrop, the lobster, was very popular and charmed the socks off of the kids (and few adults) brave enough to pet him. We were lucky enough to be under a tent, and the shade kept Winthrop cool and happy for the afternoon!

The main event of the day was the Toe Jam Puppet Band, who were a huge hit with the kids (and even some Save the Harbor Staff). It was awesome to watch the whole field of kids dancing and rocking out to the music!

Thanks to the Friends of Lynn and Nahant Beach for putting on this great event!

-Paula

Henry the Snail Catcher

This is Henry, one of the members of the fishing club at Camp Harbor View. When he first came to fishing club yesterday, Henry took one look into the bucket of mussels that we were using for bait and declared that he would not be touching any sea creatures of any kind. No mussels, no crabs, no worms, nothing! They were "nasty" and he wanted nothing to do with them.

Today after some discussion and encouragement, Henry took a big step in overcoming his fear and touched his very first sea creature, a barnacle! Shortly after that he gathered up the courage to touch the back of a red rock crab.

After fishing club, Henry joined us again this afternoon for some tide-pooling. Although he was tentative at first, with the help of a sufficiently long stick he was soon having a blast flipping over rocks to find Asian Shore Crabs. He and his friends discovered that the most crabs could be found under big rocks closer to the water.

Near the end of the day, I found Henry next to a small tide pool debating whether or not he was going to pick up a periwinkle. I told him that if he did it, I would take a picture of him with the snail and put it on our website. This proved to be the motivation he needed!

The face says it all! Congratulations Henry!

-Paula

One Crab, Two Crab, Red Crab, Green Crab!

I am no stranger to crab counting. In fact, one of my first jobs was as a research assistant counting Asian shore crabs on the beaches of New Hampshire. So naturally, I was very excited today to conduct one of our first crab counts of the summer at Blacks Creek in Quincy.

We started by surveying the area and writing down our observations. Then the kids made a prediction about the kinds of crabs they thought we would find.

This explorer's prediction was exactly 7 green crabs

After a very thorough survey, we found 4 green crabs over the course of the morning. Interestingly, they were all males. After some discussion, we came up with a possible explanation, that male crabs might come in closer to shore and be easier to catch than females, or maybe there are just more male crabs at Blacks Creek! It will be interesting to see what the rest of our crab counts reveal.

The explorers also theorized that reason we didn't find any red rock crabs was that the rocks around Blacks Creek aren't big enough for these crabs to hide under. We're not sure yet why we didn't see any Asisan shore crabs, but we did talk about how it's a good thing that this invasive species hadn't yet taken over at this location!

We'll be conducting crab counts every week at almost all of our sites for the rest of the summer. The results will go to Dr. Judy Pederson at MIT to be used for her research on invasive species. So far, the Boston Harbor Explorers seem to be having a great time searching for crabs and helping out science!

-Paula

Beating the Heat at Black's Creek

When I first got to Blacks Creek yesterday it was only nine in the morning, but it was already hot! Although the heat kept some of the Boston Harbor Explorers away, our small group of four took full advantage of the refreshing breeze and cool water.

The reduced numbers combined with the heat actually made for a nice change of pace, and the quiet waterfront was perfect for for sneaking up on minnows and hermit crabs. The kids took turns fishing from the beach and wading into the water in search of crabs while we chatted about dragonflies, sharks, and whether or not seaweed would make good fishing bait.

In the words of this young angler, "It's so peaceful, I want to stay here forever!"

Once we'd gotten enough sun, we retreated to the shade to end the day with a rousing game of sea-life twenty questions. While the energy and excitement of our usual larger groups at Blacks creek is tons of fun, it was also nice to enjoy a lazy summer day with a smaller crew.

-Paula

A Day at the Beach

I spent this past Sunday afternoon showing off our touch tank (and working on my tan!) at the Revere Beach sand-sculpting festival. We were lucky to get perfect beach weather for the event and the turnout on Sunday was great!

Lots of kids, parents, and others came by to check out our lobsters and learn more about our Better Beaches and Youth programs.

Since the day was so nice, I convinced my dad to tag along as well. He was a cab driver in Boston back in the 70's, but hadn't been back to Revere Beach in over 25 years. Based on his memories of the beach back then he was a bit hesitant to go. When I met him at the end of the day though, he had nothing but good things to say about the beach and the festival

On our way back home he told me: "I'm shocked at how much this place has changed! I had no idea there was such a nice beach so close to our house, I'm going to come back again!" I thought that pretty well summed up what our beaches programs are all about.

-Paula

Great Day at Community Boating

Our patience was rewarded today as we discovered that small hooks and hot dogs for bait worked great for catching perch!

In addition, Paul and some of our explorers at Community Boating pulled up about 30 eels in our two eel traps. They were a huge hit with everyone on the dock!

Stay tuned for more details to follow!

-Paula

Waiting for a Bite at Community Boating

It's been a tough season so far for many fishermen around Boston, and our Charles River/Boston Harbor Explorers at Community Boating are no exception. While we're still waiting for our first minnows, eels and carp, the past week has provided some great opportunities for kids to come up with and test their own ideas about the best ways to catch a fish.

We've fished off of the shore, docks and boats, used big hooks, little hooks and lures, baited our hooks with fish, bread, and corn, and used various combinations of bobbers and sinkers. Some kids have gotten very creative with this! One boy decided, after attaching a bobber to his line, that he needed a weight to be able to cast it further. Once he attached the weight, it made the bobber sink, so he ended up using two bobbers and a weight, which, according to him, worked perfectly.

In addition to a few promising nibbles we've had some really great experimentation. The kids are excited to keep trying for the first fish and I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve (as well as a container of worms in my fridge!), so hopefully we'll be able to bring in our first fish by the end of the week!

-Paula

Fishing in the Rain

This morning marked a drizzly finish to our first week of Fishing 101 at the Boston Children's Museum. Despite the weather, we were joined by a several determined young anglers eager to try their hands at fishing and crabbing.

We didn't catch any fish, but we did find plenty of green crabs and spider crabs. One group of kids were hoping to catch a lobster and became very good at pulling up the heavy lobster trap (with a little help from Carolyn). After a few tries, they were excited to see a green crab come up in the trap. This particular crab gave Conor a bit of a hard time when he tried to remove it from the trap, but he eventually managed to get it into the touch tank without any serious finger injuries. The kids loved showing their parents how to identify a green crab and how to tell if it was a male or female.

Along with the crabs, we managed to pull up some sea squirts from the bottom of the channel; the kids were so surprised to learn that they were actually living animals! Although crabs and sea squirts are a lot of fun, I'm hoping that next week we'll also be able to catch some fish.

-Paula

Learning to Fish

This afternoon the entire youth programs staff headed out to Fort Point Channel by the Children’s museum armed with fishing rods and crab traps to do some equipment training.After a quick tutorial from Will, Conor, and Aruna on how to use the rods, cast lines, and tie hooks and weights, we all dove right in (not literally of course) to try it ourselves!

It was the first time fishing for many of us (myself included), but we all caught on pretty quickly after sorting out some initial tangles and equipment problems. Some of our new staff even felt confident enough to share their new skills with some interested young passersby!

Although we didn’t catch any fish today, we did pull up several green crabs in our crab traps and had a quick lesson in how to tell the difference between male and female crabs before packing up for the day.

Now that formal training is over, I’m looking forward to getting started working with the kids and having a great first few weeks at our sites!

-Paula

Greetings!

Hi! My name is Paula and I'll be spending the summer working as a senior marine educator for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. I grew up in Sudbury, Massachusetts and I just graduated from the University of New Hampshire where I majored in marine and freshwater biology.

As a kid, I learned to sail at Community Boating on the Charles and I'm very excited to be working with the kids at Boston's sailing programs and camps to help them explore the ocean While my background is in field ecology research, I'm a huge believer in the importance of citizen sicence and of getting scientists out and about to interact with the public to spread their enthusiasm for the natural world.

In addition to having a great time and providing the kids at our programs with an awesome experience, I'm hoping that the experiences I gain this summer will help me to encourage other scientists to share their passion and knowledge with a wider audience.